What Does the Motu Proprio Really Say?

FATHER JOHN ZUHLSDORF’s blog has been the go-to point for
people seeking insight into the Pope’s new document extending permission to say
the Old Mass. Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum was released
July 7, and its changes take effect Sept. 14.

Father Zuhlsdorf worked as a collaborator for some years
with the Vatican department charged with the pastoral care of those devoted to
the older form of the Latin Mass, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. He
was incardinated in Rome’s Suburbicarian Diocese of Velletri-Segni, and is
pursuing a doctorate at the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum.” He spoke with
Register senior writer Tim Drake.

Is there anything surprising in the motu proprio?

Not really. A lot of the things were in place already. For
example, it was already possible for a priest to say Mass privately with the
old Missal. This was a disputed question. The motu proprio just resolves the
issue. In addition, bishops were already able to set up parishes or oratories
exclusively for the use of the older Mass.

Also, it had already been made plain by the Pontifical
Commission Ecclesia Dei that the new lectionary could be used with the older
Mass; at the same time, it wasn’t obligatory.

Is there anything new in it?

There are some new things. For example, for a long time
people have debated about whether or not the artificially created Novus Ordo
constituted such a deep break in the natural, organic development of liturgy that
it actually constituted a different rite. People can make good arguments on
both sides. With this document, the Pope talks about one rite of Mass in two
different expressions or uses. We already have this description of a rite of
Mass as a use with the Anglican use, where the Book of Common Prayer was
adapted for those Anglicans who came into union with the Church with their
priests under the Pastoral Provision.

What do you expect critics will say?

Critics will say that this will create division in parishes
or dioceses and that the Second Vatican Council will be undermined.

What the Pope is trying to do is create unity.

All of the theory aside, the main concern of some bishops
was that this would limit their own authority. That was worrisome to some bishops
— that they wouldn’t be able to control this use. The bishops were right to be
concerned about this, but at the same time it was perhaps too easy not to
respect the rights and aspirations of laypeople and priests.

To a certain extent this document safeguards the authority
of bishops while also stressing in a unique way the rights and aspirations of
laypeople and priests.

It demonstrates Pope Benedict’s great confidence in
laypeople and priests very much in union with Pope John Paul II’s 1988 motu
proprio where he called for respect and generosity for those who are
traditionally minded.

So, while this document doesn’t have much that is new, it
changes the whole playing field. It bumps the needle toward the priests and
laypeople in a way that simply was not present before.

So, what are this document’s aims within the Church?

One of the things this document aims to do is heal hearts
that were broken after the conciliar reforms and the divisions that happened
within families, parishes, dioceses, and even more formally with the break of
unity with the Society of St. Pius X.

This document is really about healing different things —
ecclesial unity, people’s hearts and the rupture in the Church’s life that came
about after the end of the Council. The novus ordo constituted a break with the
way that liturgy had always developed — slowly, patiently, organically over
long periods of time. Because the Eucharist is the source and summit of
Christian life, to make such a huge change had profound ramifications for Catholic
identity.

In 2005, during his Christmas address to the Roman Curia,
Pope Benedict spoke of a hermeneutic — a lens through which we view a question
— of discontinuity and rupture. Many people in places of influence adopted a
false hermeneutic. Pope Benedict is calling for a hermeneutic of reform or
continuity. He’s calling for a reintegration of our traditions and past, not in
an uncritical way, but in a good and holistic way. He is trying to
reinvigorate, rediscover and re-propose a Catholic identity.

We’ve had ruptures in every institution of our Church —
schools, universities, seminaries, parishes, chanceries, hospitals, Catholic
media and publishing. There are wounds and breaks in our Catholic identity that
are definitely in need of healing.

When you want to nourish Catholics, you have to nourish them
on the Eucharist — both in the Blessed Sacrament and its celebration. This move
on Pope Benedict’s part has as its aim to re-propose our Catholic identity.

The secular press will report that the Church is turning
back the clock or that the priests are “turning their backs on the people.”
What does this document tell the world?

We know that for a long time the Church as a whole, and
Catholics as individuals, have been marginalized, pushed to the edges of the
public square and denied a voice. There has been a massive effort to try to
reduce faith to the private sphere and keep it there, and not let it be
expressed publicly in any legitimate way.

The Pope believes that Catholics have a right to their own symbols,
language, doctrines, forms of expression and prayer, and that they have a right
to express themselves as Catholics in the public square. They have something to
contribute and offer that the world needs.

In order for Catholics to contribute to the public square,
we need to re-propose to ourselves what it means to be Catholic. Who are we
now? Where are we from? Where are we going?

We have to have an identity that we can grasp and we need to
know how to express ourselves.

This is profound, and it goes far beyond who gets to say
what Mass where. This is one dimension of a much larger project of Pope
Benedict’s.

The Pope is very gently pressing forward his proposition
that Catholics have a right to be Catholic and express themselves as Catholics.

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